17th Annual Vine Deloria, Jr. Indigenous Studies Symposium May 19-20, 2022
Theme: Tribal College Origin Stories: the origin story of Northwest Indian College
Symposium Theme
The 17th Annual Vine Deloria, Jr. Indigenous Studies Symposium focuses on Tribal College Origin Stories: The Origin Story of Northwest Indian College. The inspiration for the 2022 theme comes from two books, Indians of the Pacific Northwest: From the Coming of the White Man to the Present Day by Deloria Jr, Frank, and Pavlik 2016 and Power & Place: Indian Education in America by Vine Deloria, Jr. & Daniel Wildcat 2001. In addition, the 2022 Symposium is carrying on the work from the 16th Annual Vine Deloria, Jr. Indigenous Studies Symposium, which focuses on Indian Education and exploring further. The VDS planning committee would like to clarify the goal of the 2022 Symposium is to hold space for the appropriate people to come forward and tell the NWIC origin story. We recognize this is the start of this work and want to support this as it continues to grow. Power & Place: Indian Education in America by Vine Deloria, Jr. & Daniel Wildcat inspired the work done in the 2021 Symposium as we looked at the struggles, progress, and successes in Indian Education. We recognized this work was not complete and have carried the intention of looking at Indian Education into the 2022 Symposium with a deeper focus. We do this with inspiration from “…a simple equation: Power and Place produce personality. This equation simply means that the universe is alive, but it also contains within it the very important suggestion that the universe is personal and, therefore, must be approached in a personal manner.” (Deloria Jr. & Wildcat, 2001, 23). Deloria discusses the importance of relationships as an intricate factor in one’s ability to determine how this world should function. He states, “Completing the relationship focuses the individual’s attention on the results of their actions. Thus, the Indian people were concerned about the products of what they did, and they sought to anticipate and consider all possible effects of their actions” (IBID). In 2022, we wanted to follow through and put these words into action. Therefore, we focused our attention on the founding institution of the Symposium, the Northwest Indian College, to understand the previous relationships and open the door to start an exploration of the origin of NWIC.
Each year the co-coordinators of the Symposium do various rounds of visiting and listening with elders, community members, and scholars that contribute to and mold the theme for the upcoming Symposium. A common element came through in 2022 due to our visiting rounds. That was to continue looking at Indian Education. In 2022, we are exceptionally inspired by our elder Tom Sampson (Coast Salish, WSANEC, Tsartlip First Nation; Nez Perce), a long-time Symposium speaker, attendee, and consultant. During a visit with Tom, he echoed similar words from Power & Place to continually reflect on “what you said you would do, what are you doing now, and what do you need to do in the future .” In this conversation, Tom referred to the “we” as any group of people, be it a college, Symposium, or tribe. So we determined this was an ideal time to do some reflecting.
The other essential inspiration for the 2022 Symposium theme comes from Indians of the Pacific Northwest: From the Coming of the White Man to the Present Day. During our visiting rounds, the comments we heard also inspired the 2022’s theme. People discussed the complex history of NWIC and the Lummi tribe. The Indians of the Pacific Northwest was initially published in 1977 and was seen as the first text that rectified many lies and misconceptions about PNW tribes. As a part of this text, Deloria provides an overview of various devastating ramifications of European migration and settlement into territories and the effects on Northwest Indian Tribes starting in the 1850s. We took inspiration from the content, which provides some insight into the shared struggles, hardships, and barriers PNW tribes were facing in adapting to the education systems. In addition, Deloria specifically highlights the Lummi Day School and the foundational actions to form the Lummi Indian School of Aquaculture. This text also inspires the 2022 theme as Deloria reiterates, “For the Indian tribes of the Pacific Northwest it has always been—and will always be—about survival” (Deloria Jr, Frank, and Pavlik 2016, 160). We recognize this is a similar contributing factor to establishing many tribal colleges to help Indian people survive. In addition, the passion and perseverance of tribal people, especially the Lummi, to educate their own as a means of survival leads us to focus on those involved in the history of NWIC.
In 2022, we seek to reflect on the past to understand how we got here as a Symposium. More importantly, we want to recognize and honor the relationships, perseverance, and passion that went into creating what is now known today as the Northwest Indian College. As a result of this process, we want to celebrate and acknowledge the heroic acts of courage, survival, and sacrifice. In 2022, we are trying to put the words of Dr. Deloria, Jr., Dr. Wildcat, and Mr. Sampson into action. We are looking to the past in hopes it will provide us strength today to help us plan the bright future our ancestors wanted for us all.